Currently,
in the U.S., the FBI has the most experience with serial killers. It has
even been said that most serial killers do not fit a typical profile. Serial
killers often choose victims weaker than themselves. And more than likely,
all of their victims fit a certain pattern which has significant meaning to
the killer himself. Take Ted Bundy for example. He only murdered girls with
long brown hair. Was he in fact killing, over and over, the college fiancée
that broke off the engagement? Gacy
strangled young men, most of them his
own employees, calling them “worthless little punks and queers.” Many
believe that his homicidal rage was thrust upon the boys who reminded him of
his own inadequacy in the eyes of his dad.
We,
as Americans, think we can pick out lunacy, that insane people with an
incredible urge to kill will not be able to contain himself and his actions.
We, so called “normal” people, always sidestep the mentally ill.
Yet, if your goal is to sidestep a serial killer, avoid the well-dressed,
polite individual. Most often, serial killers blend in and through years of
practice, have learned how to camouflage themselves.
They lie in wait, in churches, in schools, malls, anywhere. When one
lawyer described Dahmer he said, “Dress him in a suit and he looks like
ten other men.” Like all predators, they get close to their victims by
gaining their trust. Serial killers don’t show their emotions openly.
Instead, they hide behind a carefully constructed mask of normalcy.
Because
of their psychopathic nature, serial killers don’t feel sympathy, or even
how to maintain a relationship. Instead, they simulate it by observing
others. Serial killers are said to be actors with a natural ability for
performance.
Henry
Lee Lucas described being a serial killer “being like a movie
star…you’re just playing the part.” Gacy loved to dress up like a
clown, while the Zodiac killer dressed up in an odd executioner-style
costume. In court, Bundy told the judge “I’m disguised as an
attorney today.” Bundy had previously “disguised” himself as an
empathetic rape crisis center counselor.
The
most important role in a psychopath’s life is that of authority. Gacy,
for example, was an active, outgoing figure in business and society and
he became a member of the Jaycees. Many join the military . Playing
police officer, however, is the most predictable. Carrying badges and
driving cop-like cars not only feeds their need to feel important, but
it also allows them to victims who would normally trust their instincts
and not talk to strangers.
Yet,
when they are finally apprehended, they take on a “mask of
insanity”—pretending to be a multiple personality, schizophrenic, or
prone to black-outs—anything to evade the responsibility of their
actions. Even when they pretend to open up and show their “true”
colors, they are still locked inside the role they cast for themselves.
What nameless dread lies behind a psychopath’s mask?
Just
as these serial killers open their victims up to “see how they run”
(as genius serial killer Ed Kemper put it), forensic psychiatrists and
FBI agents have tried to get into a serial killer’s mind and failed
miserably. Traditional explanations include childhood abuse, genetics,
chemical imbalances, brain injuries, exposure to traumatic events, and
perceived societal injustices. The frightening implication is that a
huge population has been exposed to one or more of these events. Is
there some sort of lethal concoction that sets serial killers apart from
the rest of us?
We believe that we have control over our
impulses—no matter how angry we get, there is always something to
stop us from doing something that would hurt another person. Do
serial killers lack a moral safety latch? Or are they being
controlled by something unfathomable? “I wished I could stop but I
could not. I had no other thrill or happiness,” said Dennis
Nielson, who wondered if he really was evil. Serial killers are
undeniably sick, and their numbers seem to be growing. Are we in the
midst of a serial killer “epidemic” as Joel Norris describes it?
If this is a disease, what is the cure?